HLF-WWK, Writers’ Workshop concludes

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, June 9: The Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers' Workshop (HLF-WWK) 2026 concluded recently after eight days of literary events, workshops, poetry readings, film screenings, and cultural exchanges that brought together writers, scholars, filmmakers, translators, and students from around the world.

Held from May 29 to June 5, the festival welcomed distinguished international guests including Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Tracy K. Smith and Paul Muldoon, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, Martin Doyle, Tony Barnstone, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma, alongside more than 75 writers and cultural practitioners from Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia.

Organised around the theme 'Ecstasy, Healing, and Creative Writing in the New World Order,' the festival featured master classes, panel discussions, readings, performances, and cultural excursions across the Kathmandu Valley.

A major highlight was the launch of the HLF Poetry Film Festival, Nepal’s first international festival dedicated to exploring the relationship between literature, poetry, and cinema. Festival Director Yuyutsu Sharma described it as a platform where "literature transcends the page and finds new life on screen."

The festival also featured a special panel on poetry and cinema with Peter Salisbury, Carola Mair, María Gil Burman, and Murtaza Ali Khan. The international film programme included literary and poetry-inspired films from Spain, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Ireland, and Mexico, presented with support from the Polish Institute New Delhi, Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Portugal, and the Austrian Cultural Forum.

In a special ceremony, Lokmanya Golchha, Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Poland for Nepal, was felicitated for his contribution to strengthening cultural ties between Nepal and Poland.

The festival also celebrated the literary legacy of Guru Prasad Mainali and hosted discussions on artificial intelligence and creative writing, memoir, translation, trauma and healing, indigenous literatures, and contemporary global poetry.